Contest Oneshots
by The Duelist's Heiress
Summary: Similar to my other Oneshot collection, each Oneshot here will have a prompt, but the Oneshots herein are enties submitted to the ygo contest community on Livejournal. First Oneshot: The idea that fates are unchangeable always made him laugh...


**DH AN:** This is a Contest entry I did for a LJ Contest Community **ygo_contest**. This week's Prompt was "The Temptress," Please enjoy **To Bend The Concrete.**

POV: Marik; reflective

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**To Bend The Concrete**

He struck his fingers repetitively against the glass top of his desk to keep the silence at bay, as he waited in the stillness for a temptress that went by many a name. Some would call it fate, others called it destiny. Many a man had been led astray by this temptress' often fickle nature; he was certain that he wouldn't be one of them.

Some believed this temptress a mere concept actually, one regardless of name; to be concrete, unalterable, and incapable of being changed; people like his sister. He constantly argued that destiny was malleable, the idea of it being unchangeable nothing more than a concept put in place so that servants would be fearful of their masters, rather than see that there was something better.

He was one to always push his limits. Some would call him insane; he always found himself laughing at this. _Insanity_ was only a legal term, having nothing to do with the sciences of the mind. Even if those fools were using the more common meaning, he would still laugh. They were the ones who were insane; one would have to be to believe this concept; that fate was already determined, "destined" to occur, and pointless to attempt disproving. He was in the right; when was it a crime to change one's circumstances? In seeking to accomplish his goal, this incorporeal temptress continuously stood in his way, yet simultaneously seemed to stand at his side. That fact alone providing proof that destiny was fickle in who she chose to associate with and escort. He was quite content when this temptress chose to grace him with her favor.

Yet the temptress had quite a peculiar defense when providing for those predestination-minded concrete ideology-dragging fools who were opposed to _his _choices regarding _his _destiny: their stubborn minds. However, he easily had a way around that, courtesy of something that the temptress herself had placed into his hands. All his opposition fell at the mercy of the object in his possession, and subsequently ceased to be a problem...all but one opponent anyway. For the time being he had no intent of swaying her. At present time, he had other concerns.

Any, often vehement, opposition would soon give way to unquestioning support; he never gave much of a choice in the matter. He was never too keen on the phrase "force views upon," being used to describe what he was doing. Rather, he preferred to think of it as "subtle persuasion."

Placing his elbows onto the desk, hands under his chin, he knitted his brows in thought, pondering the myriad of questions that had now chosen to strike. Was _he _manipulating his destiny...or did the temptress revel in merely letting him believe he was in control? Was he being toyed with? No, he knew this was most definitely not the case. He had been in control of his fate ever since he had left that tomb behind; attempting to leave his memories where they should stay, in the darkness and despair of his childhood. He leaned his head into his executive chair with a longing sigh.

Had he ever escaped that haunting darkness? No. The alluring temptress had only led him from darkness to light and back again, the tango between them never ceasing. His brows furrowed further, if that were possible. Fate would dance with him for a time and then would find another partner, who in figurative and literal context was intruding upon _his_ possession of _his_ destiny. This temptress was his to conquer and resist, just as his destiny was his alone to control and shape. Why did he keep questioning the nature of _his _destiny, rather than just move on with what he had affirmed since the sunlight first caressed his face; the first time he was shown that there was a life beyond what he knew. He had been determined then not to let fate and destiny's overlapping intentions get the better of him. And yet, as he looked at the shelf to his right, he realized he had fallen to the fickle temptress that was his staunchest opposition as well as his greatest ally. But, there was some victory in this...his destiny was not set in stone.

He jolted upright upon hearing a knock on his door. "Enter" He said rather icily, he despised uninvited intrusion of any sort. The door opened and a cloaked figure entered the room, dropping an envelope of papers onto the desk and quickly exited.

Once he was alone, he hastily removed the papers from the envelope scanning over them with a satisfied smirk. It seemed that the temptress was on his side again.

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**DH:** Hope you enjoyed it. I recommend that you read the other stories on that community as well. There is a link to it under Links on my profile. Hopefully you'll see more contest entries here. Also, while writing this, I got another idea that will regard my AU; that one will be posted in my **Prompted Oneshots**, after I write it.


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